In nasopharyngeal carcinoma, TFAP2A silencing in vitro and in vivo results in slower cancer cell proliferation and that patients with high tumour levels of the gene present poorer survival compared with those with lower expression.48TFAP2A upregulation is a feature of other tumour types, such as neuroblastoma, pancreatic cancer and acute myeloid leukaemia.49,50,51 In our in vitro models, TFAP2A knockdown resulted in slower cell growth showing the relevance of this transcription factor to HNSCC proliferation in vitro. Here, TFAP2A is linked to head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.